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View Full Version : Freeview box help

$tevo
14-03-07, 07:40 PM
Has anyone got a reliable Freeview box that they can recommend? I'm tired of buying rubbish boxes that fail for one reason or another - my latest, a Philips, keeps freezing and coming on at strange hours on channels of its own choosing.:smt013

Ta!

Steve
timwilky
14-03-07, 07:46 PM
Welcome to freeview. that is why it is free, because nobody would ever pay for such a poor, unreliable service. They need to treble the signal strength. How the goverment can ever contemplate switching off the analogue signal with no usable alternative except to pay Mr Murdoch a fortune......Oh damm now I understand why they want to turn it off.
gettin2dizzy
14-03-07, 07:53 PM
the ntl row seems to be taking forever aswell. It appears i'm now paying for freeview!
Sosha
14-03-07, 07:59 PM
Could try the Sainsburys cheapy c£20.... (I)mogen?... small thing & works on lowish signal..Folks one hasn't broken yet. Had a Goodmans one that was Sh*te.
svgirl78
14-03-07, 09:48 PM
We have a Ferguson one that was free with our TV from Currys. It has a very good menu system, and our signal seems to be fine. It does get a bit pixelated during storms, but it is the only way to watch Channel 5 in Brighton!
kwak zzr
14-03-07, 10:28 PM
i got a decent one PACE model and that was still p@@ so i got SKY.
ethariel
14-03-07, 10:56 PM
£20 cheap Sagem bought bout a year and a half ago bought at Richer Sounds (Boy did i have an argument there, wanting my name and address for the 'Warranty', happy to give it as long as they specificaly gave me in writing a solem blood oath not to pass my details to the BBC...LOL - in the end they just accepted a 20 quid note and told me to leave...LOL) no probs with it ever.
arenalife
14-03-07, 11:02 PM
Don't you pay your licence fee then? Sellers get fined heavily for not getting details, it's not their fault.
rpwoodman
15-03-07, 09:33 AM
I've got 2 freeview boxes - a Thomson T1000 (I think that's the model - it's certainly something-1000) which has proven to be very solid.
I also have a PVR - a Topfield, which tho expensive, is outstanding. You can write software got it, replacing features you don't like, or indeed, download software other people have written, much of it very high quality.

I'd recommend both.
fizzwheel
15-03-07, 09:37 AM
i got a decent one PACE model and that was still p@@ so i got SKY.

Ditto.
keithd
15-03-07, 09:39 AM
call this number 08705 800 874

or visit this website.....its your only realistic option

http://mysky.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/shop/products

i hope you find the above information of use to you
Amanda M
15-03-07, 10:21 AM
Yep, we had freeview, then top-up TV and hardly got any channels because the signal was so rubbish. Ended up geting Sky and have had no problems at all.
Swiss
15-03-07, 10:29 AM
Sony VTX800U
Think I bought mine of/or about £80.00. Good signal pick up, menus etc. Rated very highly with Which? etc etc.
It's been faultless, I can highly recommend it.
injury_ian
15-03-07, 04:21 PM
Sony VTX800U
Think I bought mine of/or about £80.00. Good signal pick up, menus etc. Rated very highly with Which? etc etc.
It's been faultless, I can highly recommend it.


Ahem, shamless plug

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SONY-FREEVIEW-DVB-VTX-800_W0QQitemZ320092946685

i've upgraded to a HDD freeview, so this is unused now, a mere year old too
$tevo
16-03-07, 12:24 AM
It's not signal strength that bugs me, in fact the Philips box that I'm struggling with picks up signals from Macclesfield as well as my very local (1/2 mile away) transmitter in Stoke - it's the lousy reliabilty of every box I've had up to now. I can guarantee that if I want to watch anything tonight, the first thing I'll have to do is unplug the thing to reboot it!

Thanks for the recommendations, by the way!

Steve
the_runt69
16-03-07, 12:52 AM
Also have a Thompson which ive had for a couple of years, only problem is the payperview stuff as it doesnt have a card slot. Is very good apart from it needed and amplified indoor ariel as when I had the loft conversion done I lost my outside one. works a treat in the daughters bedroom as we have SKY multiroom elsewhere
Cloggsy
16-03-07, 05:45 PM
we have SKY multiroom elsewhere

We have Sky+ & want Sky+ multiroom...

TBH I think Sky is the best option over freeview anyway :rolleyes:
Sid Squid
16-03-07, 06:24 PM
It's not signal strength that bugs me, in fact the Philips box that I'm struggling with picks up signals from Macclesfield as well as my very local (1/2 mile away) transmitter in Stoke - it's the lousy reliabilty of every box I've had up to now. I can guarantee that if I want to watch anything tonight, the first thing I'll have to do is unplug the thing to reboot it!Same problem with the three set top boxes I have had experience of too, the only thing that works properly is the digital tuner in our new telly itself - perfectly reliable and easy to use as it's not a separate unit. Avoid Nokia, dreadfully unreliable, used to unplug it 4 or 5 times an evening as it had locked up.